Business forms



Aug. 8, 1967 R. P. FISCHER 3,334,921

BUSINESS FORMS Filed May 18, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I NVENTOR.

Aug. 8, 1967 I R. P. FISCHER BUSINESS FORMS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 18, 1966 a w M? a Z United States Patent 3,334,921 BUSINESS FORMS Raymond P. Fischer, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Combined Paper Mills, Inc., a cor oration of Delaware Filed May 18, 1966, Ser. No. 554,629 1 Claim. (Cl. 2828) This invention relates to improved business forms and particularly relates to a duplicating pad assembly on which written and duplicate impressions are made. This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 374,852, filed June 12, 1964, now abandoned. A primary object of this invention is a notebook assembly including a cover and a pad of papers which may conveniently receive a written impression and, selectively, none or a plurality of duplicate impressions.

Another object is a duplicating notebook assembly which may be used for business or other reasons wherein a cover part may be used to help obtain a neat original impression and a duplication impression, if desired.

, Still another object is a duplicating notebook assembly in which duplicating impressions may be simply, easily and directly recorded without incurring undesired duplicating impressions.

Yet another object is a duplicating notebook assembly in which a pad of impression receiving and duplicating papers, all of which are identical in duplicating properties, may be simply replaced after the supply is exhausted, and in which a cover is retained to receive subsequent supplies of said paper.

Still another object is a duplicating notebook assembly having a cover providing a hard, non-porous writing surface to receive original impressions and to likewise prevent undesirable duplicate impressions from being made to underlying writing units having duplicating sheets.

Still another object is a duplicating notebook assembly having a paperboard cover of minimum thickness providing a hard writing surface and, at the same time, protecting identical writing units from receiving undesired duplicate impressions.

Still another object is a notebook assembly in which a pad of sheets have individual sheets with identical impression receiving and duplicating properties, but which may be variously designed for special purposes by utilizing form printing, color distinctions and the like.

Still another object is a notebook assembly having a cover to removably hold a pad of sheets, each of which has identical impression receiving and duplicating properties, which cover is of suflicient thickness to support a single impression receiving sheet or any plurality commensurate with the duplicating abilities of said sheets while protecting the underlying sheets from receiving duplicate impressions.

These objects together with other objects, which will become apparent, are attained by the invention which will be disclosed and is shown in the following drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the duplicating pad assembly;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the duplicating pad assembly in open and exposed position; 7

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the duplicating pad assembly as it would be used;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the pad of duplicating sheets showing a Writing unit;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of the duplicating pad assembly in the position as shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of an alternative assembly embodiment showing another means to removably hold the papers to the cover; and

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a pad of duplicating sheets showing a writing unit with indications of varying color to facilitate identification.

Like numerals used throughout the specification will refer to like structures and elements.

In FIGURE 1 is shown the improved business form, pad or notebook assembly in folded or inactive position. The form includes a back leaf 14 connected to a pair of front leaves 16 and 18 by hinge portions such as 20 and 22. The hinge portions may be of a reduced thickness to provide flexibility and such hinge portions are attached to the adjoining back leaf and adjoining front leaf by foldable, parting lines or reduced thickness such as 24 and 26 shown with hinge portion 22.

In the illustrated embodiment, a front leaf 18 is of a material having sufficient hardness and thickness to provide a hard writing surface when inserted under a plurality of sheets as shown in FIGURES 3 and 5. This leaf 18 may also be referred to as an inner cover or divider when it is used to separate a writing unit from the other papers of the pad. Such a leaf may still retain some flexibility and still provide a good, hard writing surface. The front leaf 18 may be made of material different from the rest of the cover portions. For example, back leaf 14 together with the other front leaf 16 and the hinge portions 20 and 22 may be of softer, less smoother and more flexible material such as covered paper. The front leaf 18 may be of harder, less flexible and smooth material such as lignocellulosic or paperboard composed of a plurality of paper sheets. Such a front leaf may be attached to hinge portion 22 by suitable and conventional means such as bonding.

It is required that front leaf 18 have the hardness of at least about 18 point thick paperboard (0.018) inch. A paperboard of such minimum thickness is desirable as at least a part of the cover, particularly the front leaf 18. The entire cover may be conveniently made of such minimum thickness paperboard, except for the hinge portions of reduced thickness. Such paperboards may be covered with thin plastic or cloth as is well known in the art. Such paperboard may also be referred to as compressed, hard, non-porous paper fiber material. Such paperboard with the required thickness provides a sufficiently hard writing surface and is sufliciently thick to protect the underlying sheets from receiving duplicating impressions even with the heaviest writing pressures which could be expected in normal use. Heavy types of papers having a thickness less than that of about 18 point paperboard are not satisfactory such as manila paper which is commonly used on sales order notebooks. A material equivalent to paperboard of at least about 18 point thickness not only provides the required hard writing surface and protective barrier, but

allows the cover to hold up for long periods of time with repeated replenishing of the paper pads or sheets. Paper materials less than about 18 points thick tend to quickly lose their original planar extension by becoming dog-cared, tend to become easily damaged and, therefore, have a short useful life. While such paperboard is preferred, it should be recognized that other cover materials having properties equivalent to such paperboard will be operable. These may include substantially rigid plastics and the like which are actually thinner than 18 point paperboard.

The inside surface of the hard writing leaf is also shown provided with a thin sheet of absorbent material, also referred to herein as anchoring layer 28. This material may be a sheet of thin sponge rubber attached securely to the inside surface of the front leaf. When the hard writing leaf 18 is turned and inserted under a plurality of sheets, the anchoring layer will protect the underlying sheets of paper in the writing pad as Well as provide writing traction.

The writing pad 12 is of sheets, each of which can receive written impressions or duplication. Such a sheet will also be called a writing unit and the drawing shows a number of writing units 30 which include a first sheet 30a to receive written original writing impressions and at least one underlying sheet to receive the duplicating impressions. The illustrated writing unit 30 is shown as having one original sheet 30a and three duplicating sheets 30b, 30c, and 30d. The duplicating sheets, that is, those adapted to receive duplicate impressions hold duplicating material and are those which do not require any separate, interleaved or interspaced carbon paper. The duplicating material may be coated or attached to the underside of the sheets, and such duplicating material may be carbon or other equivalents. A non-carbon duplicating paper with the underside coated is distributed by Standard Packaging Corporation. A popular duplicating paper has the duplicating material in the body of the paper which otherwise presents a white writing surface. Such papers are widely known and distributed by several enterprises among which is the National Cash Register Company. With such papers, the written impression on an original sheet 30a will cause the duplicate impression to appear directly on the duplieating papers such as 3012, 30c, 30d, without requiring any interleaved carbon paper. All the sheets in a writing unit may hold duplicating material even though one ofsuch sheets will be used to receive original written impressions.

A plurality of the writing units may be sealed or held together in pad assembly by means such as conventional stapling, taping, stitching or gummed adhesive 32 at one of the respective ends. The writing unit may be perforated towards the sealed end as at 34 to make removal of one or all sheets of a writing unit more convenient. It is not necessary that the writing pad be perforated towards one end when gummed edging is used to hold the sheets because the individual sheets of the writing unit may be easily torn off, but perforation will provide added convenience in certain uses. It may also provide a stub portion so that memoranda may be abbreviated thereon which relates to the matter entered on the corresponding writing unit. The sheets may have several portions of the same or varying areas separated by perforations to serve different uses.

The bottom of the writing pad may have means to provide a removable attachment to the cover. Such means are shown as a tongue 36 in dotted outline in FIGURE 2. The tongue may be inserted through a slot 38 in the inside surface of the back leaf 14 so that the tongue passes into the body section of the back leaf. The pad of memo papers need not however be separable from the cover. The pad may be permanently bonded to the cover, if desired. For example, the back leaf 14, may be of paper or board and bonded to a stiffer backing board of the pad by a suitable adhesive.

The hinge portion of reduced thickness is sufficiently flexible so that the hard writing leaf may be shifted to the right in FIGURE as the number of writing units in a pad assembly are used up and the pad assembly is reduced to a small fraction of the original thickness.

The cover may be otherwise modified to removably hold a pad of papers as indicated in FIGURE 6. The cover shown generally as 40 has a snap ring mechanism shown generally as 42 fixed in hinge portion 43. The pad of impression receiving and duplicating sheets shown generally as 44 are removably held to the cover by snap rings 45 and 46 engaging appropriately registered holes or passageways 47 and 48 towards one edge of the pad of papers. Such snap ring mechanisms are well known in the looseleaf binder art and will not be further described since they do not otherwise comprise essential parts of the invention. The divider leaf 49 is intended to represent a paperboard about 20-22 points thick, without any anchoring layer.

The pad of papers Shown in FIGURE 6 are further illustrated in FIGURE 7 to indicate color variations in a series of four sheets, namely, 50 indicating a white sheet, 50a indicating a pink colored sheet, 501) indicating a yellow colored sheet, and 500 indicating a blue colored sheet. This illustration shows that these four colors represent a duplicating series, which is started again with a white sheet 50 as shown. All the sheets have identical impression receiving and duplicating properties. The variation in color will facilitate identification purposes by providing, for example, that a white sheet receives original impressions and that the other colors are routed to appropriate places in accordance with an established practice or the like.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows:

A duplicating pad or notebook assembly as disclosed herein, may be used in many ways where speed, simplicity and general informality are characteristic requirements. It is required that the pad of duplicating papers be free of separate, interleaved carbon papers to attain the stated goals of simplicity, ease, etc. Each sheet or writing unit may be said to hold its duplicating material, as distinguished from a separate carbon sheet or the like. All the writing units need not be identical in their duplication properties since some may be coated back or CB paper, some may be coated front or CF paper and some may be the NCR type of paper. The purposes of the invention are served if each writing unit holds its own duplicating material as part of that unit or sheet. While the pad of papers has been shown as blank or colored to receive memorandum type original and duplicate impressions it will be obvious that they may be printed to comply with a selected business form, for example.

The hinge portions connecting the front leaf or leaves to the back leaf may also have forms other than the parting lines or reduced thickness as shown. For example, rings or other linking parts may be used to hinge the back leaf to the front leaf. This absorbent material may be sponge rubber.

The divider or inner cover 18 is an important feature of the invention, and it may be made of various materials with or without the anchoring layer. It is required that the divider be hard and smooth so that a good writing surface is provided which will protect the underlying units from undesired duplications. A harder and smoother writing surface will likewise permit more duplicating sheets to receive sharper and clearer duplicating impressions. Such inner cover or divider may be a board made from a plurality of sheets or a paperboard of compressed fibers such as in book binding, or a composition board made of ligno-cellulosic fibers and resin binders. It is, of course, required that any of these materials have the hardness common to the preferred compressed filler, nonporous fiberboard of at least 18 point thickness. A paperboard of 20-22 points in thickness is highly serviceable. A selection of greater thickness will be understandably limited by considerations of bulkiness, economics and the like.

The cover may be repeatedly used, if desired, with subsequent pads or sheets of paper having duplicating writing units. The cover may also be a throw-away, and the pad of sheets may be held by spiral plastics or Wire binding to the cover. The pad may also be side wire stitched and bonded to the cover in similar ways that sheets are bonded to a magazine cover.

The notebook assembly can be used advantageously in many ways. The divider leaf 18 may be placed under as many sheets as are commensurate with the duplication capacity of the sheet material, or it may be placed under only one sheet so that only an original impression is recorded. In other words, it is possible to have a large number of duplicating sheets or zero duplicating sheets. Such an occasional entry with Zero duplications may be desirable for a given pattern of memo entries.

The invention may now be practiced with the understanding that the illustrated embodiments do not represent exclusive teachings. The scope of the invention should be limited only by the terms of the appended claims as viewed in the light of the preceding description.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

A notebook assembly for entering impressions on any the impression receiving sheets in the pad are exhausted, said pad positioned in the cover so that the edge of the pad not having the sealing means may receive sheet of a pad in said assembly, and directly making impression duplications on an underlying sheet or sheets which includes,

a cover, said cover having a first side leaf which'is 5 the free edge of the first leaf of said cover, and

substantially stifi and rigid to serve both as a writing a traction member joined to the inside of the back surface and a protective surface, said cover further leaf, said traction member having an inner, pad conhaving a second side leaf and back leaf, a pocket in tacting surface of high friction characteristics Wheresaid back leaf, a first hinging means joining the first by said traction member will provide a non-skid side leaf and the back leaf, a second hinging means 10 writing base which subsantially prevents lateral disjoining the second side leaf to the back leaf, said hinging means allowing said side leaves to be moved placement of the sheets therebeneath due to Writing forces imposed on the assembly, whereby the first leaf may be interposed between a selected number of impression receiving sheets and the bal' ance of the impression receiving sheets in said pad to obtain a first sheet with original impressions and a selected number of underlying sheets with impression duplications while protecting the balance of said underlying sheets from receiving said impressions.

from a substantially coplanar position with said back leaf to planes substantially parallel with said back leaf, a pad of impression receiving sheets positioned in the cover, sealing means on said sheets to bind said sheets in a unitary pad at one of their respective ends, rupturable means extending across the width of each sheet to facilitate removal of said sheet, said ruptur- References Cited able means positioned uniformly on each sheet so sheets of substantially the same size may be removed UNITED STATES PATENTS from the pad after receiving a written impression, Re. 22,007 6/1938 Stevens 282-22 each of said sheets in said pad being identical ith 25 ,1 7/1914 Grieg 282-221 respect to its properties for receiving original itten 1,243,695 10/ 1917 Bottle 2 2 impressions and duplicating impressions, ea h of id 1,530,421 3/ 1925 Scott sheets having duplicating materials incorporated 1,558,354 110/1925 Halvefson 3114 tirely as a part of said sheet by which a itt i 2,2472? 6/1941 Dmmng 282-22 pression may be entered on one sheet and directly giggg g g n f rred t0 One or more underlying h t 6 P 2-2 eloncated mount. t d h k f 3,048,426 8/1962 Rodrlgvez et al. 282-23 e mg means come" to t e ac 0 3,147,991 9/1964 Heinz 2s 58 X the pad, said mounting means adapted to be removably inserted in the pocket of the back panel until LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner. 

